Relative clause parsing in L1 Russian -L2 English

1. Relative clause parsing in L1 Russian -L2 English

Diana Vakhitova
UGR
2016

2. Parsing=processing

The way how we interpret information.
Parsing strategies are different in different
languages.

3.

4. Late closure principle

• Late closure(low attachment or recency)- when new words (or
"incoming lexical items") tend to be associated with the phrase or
clause currently being processed rather than with structures farther
back in the sentence

5.

6. Experiment questions

1. How people with L1 Russian-L2 English solve RC ambiguity in both
languages? Do they prefer high attachment( 1 Spec-IP) or low
attachment(2 Spec-IP)?
2. Do Russian learners of English use Russian parsing strategy for their
secong language?

7. Experiment items

• Participants=14 student of 3d year of Udmurt State University,
Izhevsk, Russia, who study English in the faculty of Languages and
Literature
• Age=20
• Study English for approximately 12 years at school and with tutors
• All have B2+ level (or upper-intermediate) by results of placement
test

8. Experiment details

• Two off-line questionnaires: first in Russian, second included the
same sentences or slightly changed but in English (was given in a
week from eliciting results from the first questionnaire)
• Materials= 8 grammatical sentences (4 ambiguous relative clauses
with 2 potential antecedents and 4 anaphora sentences). Sentenses
were mixed in random way in order that participants wouldn`t
understand the aim of the experiment

9. Results

• The dog bit a friend of a professor who lives with his children.
Who lives with children a) friend b) professor
43%
57%
answer a(high)
• Собака укусила друга профессора,который живет со своими
сыновьями.
Кто живет с сыновьями: а)друг; б)профессор
answer b(low)
36%
64%
answer a(high)
answer b(low)

10. Results

• Peter fall in love with the daughter of the psychologist who studied in
California.
answer a(high)
Who studied in California: a) daughter b) psychologist
answer b(low)
43%
57%
• Анна влюбилась в сына психолога,который учился в Москве.
Кто учился в Москве: а)сын; б)психолог
answer a(high) 0% answer b(low)
100%

11. Results

• Alex got acquainted with the daughter of the teacher who was
learning Spanish in Mexico.
Who was learning Spanish: a) daughter b) teacher
36%
64%
answer a(high)
• Андрей познакомился с дочерью учительницы, которая изучала
английский язык в Калифорнии.
answer a(high)
Кто изучал английский язык: а)дочь; б)учительница
answer b(low)
answer b(low)
21%
79%

12. Results

• The son of my friend who is living next door is a very good man.
Who is living next door: a) son b) friend
29%
71%
answer a(high)
• Сын моего знакомого, который учился в Санкт-Петербурге, очень
хороший человек.
Кто учился в Санкт-Петербурге: а)сын знакомого; б)знакомый
answer b(low)
21%
79%
answer a(high)
answer b(low)

13. General results

Russian
English
70
90
80,35
60
80
70
58,91
50
41,09
60
40
50
30
40
30
20
19,625
20
10
10
0
0
High
low
High
Low

14. Interpretations

1. Russian B2+ level English learners prefer high attachment(80%) in
Russian questionnaire to low attachment(20%). It was predictable,
as Russian belongs to high-attaching languages.
2. Russian B2+ level English learners prefer high attachment(59%) in
English questionnaire to low attachment(41%). They use their
parsing strategy from Russian, but the percentage difference is not
that significant as in the first result, maybe because they are
starting to get involved into English, receiving more input in English.

15. One more question

• Why don`t we encounter many problems with RC attachment ambiguity
while speaking Russian?
1. Because of intonation and stress (ex.:Собака укусила друга
профессора,который живет со своими сыновьями. The dog bit a
friend of a professor who lives with his children.)
2. Because in Russian we have the relative pronoun который which is
changing in gender:который(masculine),которая(feminine),
которое(neuter) and it is translated in English as "who, which,
that",English relative pronoun doesn`t have gender, that`s why there are
more ambiguous RC in English.(compare Rus:Ты знаешь маму моего
знакогомого, который(masculine) учился на врача? with English Do
you know the mother of the guy who studied to become a doctor )

16. Bibliography

1.
“Retrieval interfearence in relative clause attachment ambiguity:
cross’linguistic evidence” by Irina Sekerina ( City university of NY)
(http://www.unipotsdam.de/aladdin/fileadmin/projects/aladdin/assets/Sekerina_DGfS20
16.pdf)
2. “Relative clause attachment in bilinguals and monolinguals” by Eva
Fernandez(City university of NY)
(http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/~efernand/abralin07/fdez2002.pdf)
3. “Relative clause attachment preferences in Second Language Learners`
parsing performance” by Guillermo Rodriguez
(http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1394&context
=pwpl)
4. Web (http://www.alphadictionary.com/rusgrammar/kotoryj.html)